I am writing this at the beginning of what we call Holy Week. Approximately 2,000 years ago, a man named Jesus of Nazareth began his well documented last week. This week was so important in the lives of his friends and followers that his close friend John devotes a substantial part of his writing (we call the Gospel according to John) to just this last week.
Jesus spent four or five days teaching, being with friends, being alone with God. Then what we call Good Friday (from the time I was a child, I wondered what was “good” about Good Friday, I’ve always played with words) came with his execution. Of course, the most important remembrance of this week concerns Sunday that we call Easter when his closest friends discovered that he had returned to life. Some sort of weirdly physical life (he told one friend not to touch him, and he walked through walls). But, still, life.
In contemplation this morning, I was stuck on the thought of what 2,000 years of his followers have done to his church. My thoughts rapidly scanned through just people I’ve known or read about in the past decade. Many have advertised themselves as followers, yet the actual advertising I see by their actions betray that self-promotion. Many lives definitely do not reflect the commands Jesus gave about loving God and loving others.
In contemplation, I can reflect on my own actions. What do they advertise? Have I always acted in the right way even through my weaknesses of personality?
Perhaps if you claim to follow Jesus, this is a good week to contemplate what your life has revealed. Perhaps that is motivation for us, you and me, to change. There is still time.
Faith Venture 
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